Trial begins in suit over home destroyed by falling rock

BILLINGS (AP) – A Billings couple whose home was destroyed by a slab of sandstone that fell from the Rimrocks says the damage was caused by road construction.

The Billings Gazette reports that Tuesday in the second day of the civil trial, Jon Lodge said the rock that hit their house was eroded by an unnatural waterway formed when the city of Billings expanded the airport in 1963 and moved Montana State Highway 3 closer to the edge of the Rimrocks.

Lodge and Jane Deschner, the co-defendant in the case, are suing for compensation and future action by the city and the state of Montana for the 2010 incident.

Their insurance company classified the rock as a landslide, not a rock fall, and therefore not covered by their policy.